Helmet worn by Ayrton Senna is sold for the price of a Rolls-Royce at millionaire auction

The 500 thousand pounds – about R$ 3.45 million – paid for a helmet worn by Ayrton Senna, including stone marks and visible signs of wear, would be enough to take a Rolls-Royce Phantom brand new in England itself, where the item went up for auction: the most luxurious sedan of the British brand starts at around 440 thousand pounds and reaches close to 507 thousand in the country. It was for this amount that the Shoei helmet worn by Senna in the 1992 Formula 1 season was sold.

The piece was sold at the Motorsport Icons Live Auction, held at the Silverstone Museum, on July 7, shortly after the British Grand Prix. The result exceeded the initial estimate of $80,000 to $120,000 by more than four times, according to the auction house.

According to Budds, the helmet was worn by Senna at the 1992 British, German and Hungarian GPs – and was on his head at the Hungaroring, where he won that year. The company claims that the piece was accompanied by an official McLaren Certificate of Authenticity and was publicly offered for the first time.

The hull bears the marks of those who raced with it. The auction house describes extensive signs of track use, including splintering caused by rocks and apparent dirt. On the inner lining, Budds informs, the manufacturing label (Production No A / MAR 1992 / Inspector: H. Takayama) and the original Snell SA90 seal are preserved.

There are details that link the helmet to a specific chapter of the category. According to Budds, pieces of the time brought adaptations linked to restrictions on cigarette advertising: in races such as those in Great Britain and Germany, teams had to cover or replace the brand of the tobacco sponsor. It was also at the 1992 German GP that Senna shared the podium with Michael Schumacher and Nigel Mansell, the only time in F1 history that the three climbed together.

The 1992 season was the last of the McLaren-Honda partnership, and Senna competed in it as the current champion – the title that year went to Mansell and Williams. Still, the helmet is not the most expensive ever sold by the Brazilian: the one used at the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix, when he stopped to help Érik Comas, went for 720 thousand pounds (about R$ 4.9 million) in April 2025, a record for a motorsport item.